Al-Istibṣār fī mā ukhtulif min al-akhbār (Arabic: الاستِبصار فی ما اختُلِفَ مِن الاَخبار) is the fourth book of the Four Books. It is a hadith collection compiled by Al-Shaykh al-Tusi (d. 460/1067 ) known as al-Shaykh al-Ṭa'ifa.

Contents

Content

This book contains jurisprudential hadiths and it is more concise than Tahdhib al-ahkam. The order of the chapters in Al-Istibsar is so that the first two parts are dedicated to issues regarding worship (except Jihad) and the last part (part three) is about other jurisprudential issues such as contracts, unilateral obligations, fixed punishments and financial compensations.

According to statistics that the author has given about the hadiths recorded in Al-Istibsar, they are 5511 hadiths while in a researched publication of the book, the number of hadiths are 5558 and this difference might be due to the way of counting some special hadiths.

In the first two parts, al-Shaykh al-Tusi has recorded almost all hadiths with their references, but in the last part, the references are mentioned in a brief way and similar to the style of Tahdhib al-ahkam and more like the style of Al-Shaykh al-Saduq in Man la yahduruh al-faqih the references of hadiths to hadiths Usul [original references] are mentioned at the end of the work.

Purpose of Compilation

Some scholars and students of al-Shaykh al-Tusi asked him to write a book in which he collects opposite hadiths, analyzes them and marks the correct and incorrect ones. In this book, al-Shaykh al-Tusi first brought authentic and correct hadiths and then has mentioned opposite ones and has tried not to miss one and after all has tried to reach a conclusion after discussing the two kinds of hadiths.

Manner of Compilation

In this work, in addition to collecting all hadiths related to one issue at one place, al-Tusi has reviewed their references and meanings and in each chapter, has suggested his own opinion for removing apparent disagreements between hadiths or the priority of some of them over others. Methods for reach agreements and conclusions between hadiths and removing their disagreements have a special position in the al-Shaykh al-Tusi's fiqh, and has been reflected especially in his Al-Istibsar.

Therefore, this book should not be regarded as a mere collection of hadiths and ignore its jurisprudential value. Similar to other books among the Four Books, the order of the chapters of Al-Istibsar is based on the usual order in jurisprudential works.

Although in compiling Al-Istibsar, al-Shaykh al-Tusi has so much relied on his previous work Tahdhib al-ahkam , but Al-Istibsar has its own characteristics regarding the general purpose of compilation as well as the chaptering and the order of hadiths in each chapter and is regarded as an independent work. This independence is clearly seen in a list of the author's works and in the words of his contemporary scholar, al-Najashi.

Attributes

This is the first book which has been published to make an agreement between opposite hadiths.

In addition to its great credit, Al-Istibsar has a very good coverage so that Ibn Tawus says, "If there is any disagreement about an issue, it must be mentioned in Al-Istibsar."

At the beginning of every chapter, first the authentic or reliable hadith(s) are mentioned and then other hadiths are listed.

Position

This book is among the most authentic Shia hadith books and every faqih or Mujtahid needs to refer to it when judging about rulings.

Old Copies

About old copies of Al-Istibsar, first the incomplete manuscript transcribed by Ja'far b. Ali Mashhadi must be mentioned that Aqa Buzurg Tihrani reports that was available in the library of Sayyid Hadi Kashif al-Ghita' in Najaf. According to this report, the mentioned copy has been compared with the handwriting of al-Shaykh al-Tusi and the job has finished in 573/1177-1178.

A gloss written by Mir Muhammad Baqir al-Istarabadi, known as Mirdamad (d. 1040 or 1041/1630-1631) which has been sometimes referred to as a commentary. There are several copies of it in Sepahsalar Library in Tehran and Chester Beatty Library in Dublin.

Kashf al-asrar fi sharh al-istibsar which is a commentary on Al-Istibsar written by al-Sayyid Ni'mat Allah al-Jaza'iri (d. 1112/1700) and several manuscripts of it have been mentioned by Aqa Buzurg Tihrani.